Obama, Graham Hold First Meeting

President Obama ended his North Carolina vacation by meeting and praying with evangelist Billy Graham for the first time. Graham has counseled all presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower. The meeting lasted 30 minutes and a White House spokesman said President Obama was "extraordinarily gratified that [Graham] took time to meet with him."

The 91-year-old pastor's son, Franklin, was also present during the meeting. We told you last week in The Grapevine that the Army rescinded an invitation for the younger Graham to speak at a Pentagon prayer service, citing what it said were his inappropriate comments about Islam.

Franklin Graham said he and the president spoke briefly about the matter. He says he told President Obama activists with an agenda were trying to pull all religion out of the military. Graham said, "I wanted to make him aware of that. He said he would look into it."

Losing Hope?

The artist behind the iconic Obama "Hope" poster that was used throughout the 2008 presidential election says his hope in the president has been shaken.

Shepard Fairey tells a New York TV station he hasn't been wowed by what's happened in Washington: "Obama is... trying to do a good job. But I have to grade the whole thing on a curve because the two-party system to me is not yielding the results I want to see."

Keeping Busy

Former President George W. Bush has maintained a relatively low-profile since leaving office. But the publisher of his upcoming memoir says the former president's absence from the national stage is because "he has spent almost every day writing 'Decision Points,' a strikingly personal and candid account revealing how and why he made the defining decisions in his consequential presidency and personal life."

The book is scheduled to be published November 9, one week after the mid-term elections.

E.T. Stay Home

British physicist Stephen Hawking thinks extraterrestrial aliens are almost certain to exist, but that trying to contact them is a little too risky.

Hawking says, "I imagine they might exist in massive ships — having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads — looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach."